There is no lack of knowledge in the world we live in today. Just about every bit of knowledge that’s ever been known to humankind is available to us in our hands, on our phones, in just a few …
263. Why You Need to Ditch the Diet Mentality
There are so many ads and promotions these days for different diets, it’s almost overwhelming. Everybody wants to sell you the magic pill - the easy, simple diet that will allow you to eat all the …
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258. The Truth About Comfort Food
It’s that time of year when the days are getting shorter and colder, the holidays are upon us, and all you feel like doing is staying in and eating comfort food. I get it. I feel this too. And just …
257. Replay: Handling the Holidays Like a Badass
The holidays can be a very difficult time of the year for a lot of people. Shopping for gifts, planning social events, spending more time with family, and the added end-of-year demands at work can …
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Podcast Transcript
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, sports nutritionist, Master life coach and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 257, of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, The Weight Loss Coach for Runners and today, Handling The Holidays Like A Badass. So, the holidays can be very difficult for a lot of people. You’re shopping for gifts, you’re planning social events, spending time with family, and then added end of year demands from work, this can all make all of us feel more stressed and overwhelmed, not to mention shorter days, colder temperatures, lack of sunlight.
All this makes getting outside to exercise more challenging, and exercise is our happy place, right? So it can be very easy to just say, “f it” and blow off all your diet, all your exercise plans, stay indoors, watch Netflix with a big old glass of wine and just hibernate until the new year, right? But if that’s not how you want to roll into 2025 I’ve got an alternative solution for you.
In this episode of the podcast, I’m going to share a few simple tips for handling the holidays like a badass, so you can slide into the New Year feeling good about yourself, which is not the way most people do it.
But first, if you’ve ever considered coaching, I’m going to tell you right now is the perfect time to take action. For most of us. This is the off season. It’s time for you to kind of scale back your running and focus on things like your diet and nutrition. If you’re somebody that is interested in losing weight, this is the perfect time to make those changes to your diet, start losing the weight, so that when we roll into 2025 you can start your training, you know, feeling good about yourself and having developed some good habits and stuff like that.
It’s also a great time because you know, your running is a little bit less of your volume of running is a little bit less, so that it’s a good time to focus on other things, like getting stronger, and again, losing weight and things like that. So if you want a little bit of help with all this stuff I got you. I can help you get leaner, I can help you get stronger. I can help you run longer and run faster.
All you gotta do is go to my website, runningleancoaching.com, click on, Work With Me, and I’ll show you exactly how to start the new year feeling like the most badass version of yourself, yet cool. Just go to runningleancoaching.com, click on work with me, and let’s do this.
All right. I wanted to share a little bit of how to handle the holidays, and I realized I had recorded a couple of different episodes about getting through the holidays and maybe some good tips and stuff. And I was looking back through my notes on this particular episode, and I really like the content here, so I’m not going to talk too much about it, but this is a replay from a couple of years ago, I think. But this is called Handling The Holidays Like A Badass.
I know that this episode is going to come out the day after Thanksgiving. So just keep that in mind that if you’re somebody that wants a little bit of help with all of the stuff that’s happening between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, then I’m here for you, okay, but this is going to kind of focus on that part of the the year, this end of the year, these last few weeks of the year, and it’s kind of a short time.
There’s only like 35 days this year between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, and usually it’s a little bit longer than that, so it’s a good time to really focus on taking care of yourself and deciding on how you want to show up in the new year. And I’ll talk about all that in the podcast.
One other thing I wanted to let you know about is that if you’re interested in a challenge during the holidays, over in the Running Lean Podcast community on Facebook, we’re doing the running through the holidays challenge, which is basically just a challenge to run every day, from Thanksgiving Day through New Year’s Day. And I’m, you know, you can go on the Facebook group and join the group, and you’ll, you’ll see all about it, but basically, it’s just run at least one mile each day, between Thanksgiving Day and New Year’s Day.
Try to do it outdoors if you can, and you don’t have to. There’s no real rules around this or anything. It’s not super strict, but if you can just run at least one mile each day outside, that’s kind of preferred. What we’re trying to do is focus on getting outside, getting in the sunlight. If you have sunlight where you live, even if it’s cloudy, you’re still getting some of that sun in your eyes.
It’s really important, but it’s a way of like, getting that endorphin release and that that dopamine and the oxytocin, all those feel good hormones going through this typical dark and dreary part of the year, especially with all the holiday stuff that’s going on, a lot of stress that’s happening, it’s a good time to focus on just being outside and running and doing something that’s good for you, mentally, emotionally, physically. So check out the Facebook group, Running Lean Podcast Community.
You can just type that in to Facebook, and you’ll find our group. Join the group, and then you can participate in the challenge. You don’t really have to do anything to participate. You can post pictures and comment on other people’s posts and things like that. It’s a fun time of the year where we’re all supporting each other and getting through the holidays feeling good about ourselves.
We want to roll into 2025, feeling good about ourselves. So join us over there and join us for the running through the holidays challenge. Okay, I’m going to stop yammering on here, and I’m going to play this episode for you, and I hope you all have an amazing holiday season this year. All right?
All right on to this topic today, which is all about handling the holidays, like a badass. This time of the year, it can be very hard for people, right, we’ve got more stress this time of the year than any other time of the year collectively, right?
The days are cold, it’s dark, work is a little busier, you got to get all this stuff done at the end of the year. You’ve got more social events, you’re spending more time with family, you got to plan more meals, you’re buying gifts, you’re wrapping gifts, you’re sending out Christmas cards, maybe you’re traveling.
And all of this stuff can really feel overwhelming and cause a lot of people to really struggle. You know, this is supposed to be a fun time of the year, right and everybody looks forward to it. But at the same time, it can be very challenging for a lot of people, okay.
So when you find yourself feeling this stress, it can be very hard to stick to your diet and exercise plans, it can be very hard to want to get up and go to the gym when it’s cold and dark outside, it can be very hard to want to stick to your food plan when everybody around you is eating a bunch of junk and cookies and candy and all this other stuff, right?
So if you just want to stay inside and hibernate, like during this time of the year, that is perfectly fine. You’re allowed to do that, right? But if that’s not how you want to spend the holidays, then you get to decide what you want for yourself, okay, if you want something different, this episode is for you. Okay?
If you want to be able to stay on track, stick to your diet, keep up with your runs, keep up in the gym, whatever it looks like for you. You are allowed to do that. By the way, you don’t have to just fall into this habit that most people fall into, which is just kind of giving up a lot of this stuff during this time of the year.
How many people do you know to say, well, you know, the diet starts on January 1. Well, why? Why would you wait? Right? Why do you want to wait until then, to start improving your life? Why do you want to wait until then until you start doing something that’s good for you? Why do you want to wait until then, to start improving your health and your fitness?
I say start today, if that’s what you want for yourself, it doesn’t matter that we’ve got the holidays coming up, it really doesn’t. There’s always something going on, right? I want you to think about how you want to show up on January 2, you know, who do you want to be when you start the New Year? How do you want to show up for yourself?
Do you want to feel shame and guilt remorse and regret? Because you’re going to be starting from like a health and fitness deficit? Like you got to make up a lot of ground because you gained some weight you got a little softer?
Or do you want to feel proud of yourself and confident and happy with your choices? Do you want to start the new year with momentum? Do you want to start the new year ahead of the curve, like feeling like you had your back during this period of time, right? It’s a choice, it is a choice, you get to decide.
So here’s what I’m going to do, I got three tips for you today. And I’m gonna break these down a little bit. But the first one is step number one. Or tip number one is that you get to decide who you want to be on January 2. And you should get very detailed with this, right?
And I tell people all the time to like do these writing exercises, like write it out. Write out who you want to be. And I know a lot of people that listen to this podcast are just like, yeah, whatever. I’m not gonna write that out.
But you know what, it makes a difference. It really does. The people that take the time to do this work and actually sit down and do the writing, when it comes to things like this, they get better results I’m just going to tell you, they do.
So if you want to get better results, I want to encourage you to do a little bit of writing around this. Who do you want to be on January 2, you know, I want you to envision this version of you and write down what it will look like and feel like to be that person on January 2, right.
Now you get to decide if you want to keep losing weight, maybe you’ve already started a weight loss regimen and you’re kind of losing and you’re like that and you want to continue to lose weight. Maybe you want to just maintain your weight through the holidays. Or maybe you’re okay if you gain a little bit of weight during the holidays.
But you’ve probably never thought about it like before, right, but really, it’s a choice, it’s a choice that you get to decide how you want to show up for yourself in January if you want to gain a little bit of weight, that’s fine.
But I just want you to make that decision now. Because this decision that you make today is going to drive your behaviors over the next few weeks. So let’s say you decide you want to gain weight, that means like, you’re probably going to eat more food, drink more alcohol, indulge in a bunch of, you know, sugar, and, you know, processed foods and go a little bit crazy. Maybe you’re gonna, like, stop running for a few weeks, or, you know, not go to the gym. That’s fine. If you want to do all this, it’s totally awesome.
Just know that you will probably gain weight in this process. And if you’re okay with that, if you’re okay, showing up in January, you know, five, eight pounds heavier, whatever, awesome, more power to you. Okay, you get to decide if that’s what you want for yourself, maybe you want to maintain.
Maybe you’re the kind of person who is like, you know, what I’m gonna stick to my healthy eating plan. For the most part, I might make some more exceptions than normal, you know, I might have a little more wine here and there, I might be drinking some more beers, I might enjoy a dessert or two, but for the most part, I’m gonna, you know, kind of stick to the plan.
And maybe you back off the running and the strength training a little bit, but not entirely. So this is a way of maybe maintaining your weight. Okay, totally fine. Again, all these options are available to you.
You’ve probably never thought about it like this before, though, right? Most people just assume that they’re gonna, like, just continue to lose weight or whatever, during the holidays, but they don’t change anything. Okay.
And then let’s say you decide you want to lose during the holidays, you want to continue to lose weight, this is going to require that you keep planning your meals and keep sticking to your plan, right, it’s just going to require that you stick with your running schedule, you keep up with some sort of resistance training. And this plan is awesome. And I’m super proud of you if you decide to do this.
But just know that it requires a commitment, it requires a little bit more discipline and a little more motivation. It doesn’t require as much motivation if you’re okay, gaining some weight over the holidays, right. So you get to decide, do you want to gain weight, maintain your weight or lose weight, make that decision.
So here’s what not to do. So most people go into the holidays, thinking that they’re going to keep losing weight or stay the same, but then they eat a ton more food. They’re eating all the sugar, they’re drinking alcohol, they’re slacking off on their exercise regimen. This is the way most people do it. They don’t have a plan, they just think they’re gonna stay on track.
And they think they’re just gonna, like maintain their weight, but they’re not. Their behaviors are not in alignment with the goal of wanting to maintain their weight. And then they show up on January 2, and they’ve gained weight, they’re like 10 pounds heavier.
And they’re like, I don’t understand what happened. It’s like you didn’t make a plan. You didn’t decide how you wanted to show up. So step one is deciding how you want to show up on January 2, who do you want to be, write it down, decide today, who you want to be, and decide if you’re one of those people that wants to gain weight, maintain or lose weight, make that decision now, and then act accordingly.
So if you’re the kind of person who wants to lose weight, you’re gonna have to stick to your plan. You’re gonna have to be diligent and not eat the cookies when everybody else is eating the cookies.
Maybe people are drinking around you and you’re not. You’ve got to make that decision. If that’s what you want for yourself. Okay? Just be honest with yourself, who is it you want to become? And then act accordingly. Okay, so that’s tip number one or step number one to this process.
Okay, step number two is to make a plan and stick to the plan. So now you have a very clear picture of how you want to show up on January 2. So now you just need to make a plan and stick to it right? It seems so simple, but most people do not do this. Most people just wing it. Right? Don’t wing it. Make a plan.
So making a plan means that you’re planning out all of the events that are coming up, you plan out your meals, you plan out your workouts, you got holiday parties, family events, weird schedules, whatever.
Your kids are gonna be out of school, maybe you work from home and your kids are gonna be home with you. You’re gonna have a house full of people. All this stuff can be an excuse for just blowing off your diet and exercise routines.
And I hear this from people all the time, oh, well, you know, the kids are out of school. So that means I have to eat a lot more cookies. No, it doesn’t, it really doesn’t mean that at all. Right, don’t use that stuff as an excuse for not sticking to your plan. This will require a little bit more, you know, work a little more thought work a little bit of more discipline on your part.
Yes, it will make a plan and stick to the plan, you get to decide what’s on your plan. Just make a plan. Decide what’s coming up, like you know what’s coming up, you know that there’s going to be this holiday event, you know, there’s going to be this work thing, you know, there’s going to be kids around, whatever you got to make cookies for this thing, cupcakes, whatever, plan for all of it.
Decide what you’re going to eat and when, decide when you’re going to get your runs in, decide when you’re going to go to the gym to get your resistance training in, and get it all planned out in advance. Right, so simple, and then just stick to that plan.
Over in the coaching group, I have an entire course called Getting It All Done, where I show you exactly how to plan everything in your life so that you can make it all work, because I get it. We’re all busy. We all have busy lives, we’ve got work, we’ve got kids, we’ve got school, we’ve got all kinds of things going on, right?
And I make these suggestions like, hey, you should probably get outside and exercise every day, you should probably be doing some resistance training. You know, you should probably do some stretching and some yoga and things.
People are just like, dude, I can’t. I don’t have time for all this stuff. And I don’t want you to use that as an excuse. I don’t want you to use the I don’t have time as an excuse, okay? Because time is just a mental construct. It doesn’t truly exist.
You make the time for whatever is important to you, you absolutely do. So make the time for what’s important to you decide what’s important to you make the time and get it done. But I have this cool course right, it breaks it all down and shows you exactly how to do all that. I
found this quote when I was preparing for this podcast, and it might be from Ben Franklin. It’s kind of you know, the internet, who knows what some of this stuff. But anyway, it’s this quote has been attributed to Ben Franklin – “If you fail to plan you’re planning to fail.”
Boom, I love this, quote, if you fail to plan, you are planning to fail. I want to encourage you to not skip this step. Don’t skip the planning, make a plan. Most people just don’t do it. They just wing it. And if you don’t have a plan, you’re going to inevitably fail. Okay.
And just so you know, starting in January over in the coaching group, we’re going to be focused on starting the New Year, the right way. And I’m going to show you exactly how to plan your meals, what you should be eating, what you shouldn’t be eating, and most importantly, how to stick to that plan. Right, anyone can make a plan. It’s the sticking to the plan that’s the hard part.
Here’s my best advice for achieving greatness in any area of your life. Are you ready? Here it is. Make a plan. And then stick to that plan, even when you don’t feel like it. That’s it, make a plan and then stick to the plan. Even when you don’t feel like it.
You can accomplish just about anything with that kind of attitude. If you want to lose weight, make a plan to maybe you quit eating sugar and you quit eating processed food, and then stick to that plan, even when it’s hard. stick to that plan.
Even when you’re surrounded by cookies and candy and pastries. Because you’re gonna want that stuff. It will be hard in that moment, you will not feel like sticking to your plan in that situation.
You know, maybe you’re making Christmas cookies with your kids and the whole house smells like sugar cookies, right? How do you stick to your plan, that’s going to be hard, but you can do it. I know you can.
But that’s what it means to stick to your plan even when you don’t feel like it. If you want to get stronger, make a plan to lift weights a few times each week. And then do that. Work that plan. Even when it’s cold and dark outside.
You don’t feel like getting up and going to the gym because you’d just rather sleep in, get your butt out of bed and get to the gym. Even though you don’t feel like it, do it anyway. That’s how you get stronger.
Right? So make a plan and then stick to the plan. That’s my second best advice for getting through the holidays like a badass.
And then step number three. Listen. You might fail. No big whoop. Do not beat yourself up if you fail. Do not beat yourself up if you fail. What happens if you fail? What happens if you don’t stick to the plan? What happens if you eat the sugar cookies or you just skip the gym or you skip that run because you decided to stay inside watching Netflix?
Like what happens in that situation? And by the way, here’s a little sidebar for you. Netflix, is not bad. Netflix is not the worst thing in the world. People talk about watching TV as being the worst thing you can possibly do. So much so that like, it can feel very guilty and shameful.
When you just sit down to watch a show I say enjoy your TV, but just like anything else, the dosage matters. So just do it in moderation. Right?
And by the way, I just started watching Succession on HBO – holy cow, that is an awesome, awesome show. So enjoy your Netflix, enjoy your streaming TV, whatever, enjoy your movies. It’s a great way to spend some time and you know, snuggled up on the couch with a loved one or something like that. End of rant.
Okay, that was a little sidebar. So what happens if you, if you fail, you eat the cookies, you just don’t get to the gym, whatever. What happens if you don’t stick to your plan 100%? Do not beat yourself up. Just get back on track as soon as you can.
If you screw up one meal, it’s not going to ruin everything for you just get back on track at your next meal. If you miss a workout, don’t freak out about it, you’re not going to lose all your fitness. Just make a point to get back on track at your next workout.
A good rule of thumb is to not have two bad meals in a row and never skip two workouts in a row. What we’re after is consistency, not perfection. It’s more important that you put weeks and months together of consistency. Rather than sticking to some plan perfectly every single day. It’s just not practical to think that way. Right?
The same thing goes for our running through the holidays challenge. If you miss a day, it’s no big deal. Just pick it back up again the next day. It’s not about doing it perfectly. It’s about doing it consistently.
And this all might make common sense. And, you know, it can be very easy to slip into the habit of beating yourself up over this stuff though. It can be really easy to just feel guilty or shameful or talk smack about yourself. Right? These things do not do you any good whatsoever. Right?
What happens is, a lot of times people will have a cheat meal, or they’ll miss a workout. They feel terrible, ashamed, and guilty. And this can very easily spiral you down into an attitude of like, just screw it all. Why should I even bother with any of this, I always mess up. Don’t do that.
Right, indulging in these negative thoughts and negative feelings. And we call these indulgent emotions. When we do this, we indulge in this negativity and worthlessness and shame and guilt – don’t do that. It’s very detrimental to your success. Okay?
Because what happens when you feel bad? What happens when you beat yourself up like this? Typically, you just want to feel better. Typically, you just run to find something to make yourself feel good again. And a lot of times that means using food or alcohol.
So it just makes the situation worse. It completely compounds feeling bad, right? So I plan on failing, it’s part of the process, not a big deal. Don’t beat yourself up about it. Okay. Strive for consistency, rather than perfection and get back on track at the very next opportunity.
Okay, so quick recap. My three tips for handling the holidays like a badass, first of all, decide who you want to be on January 2. Do you want to gain weight, maintain your weight or lose weight and then act accordingly? Who do you want to be on January 2?
Who is that badass version of yourself? What does he or she look like and write about it? Write what it would feel like to stay consistent through the holidays right about what it would feel like to show up on January 2. Feeling good about yourself feeling confident, feeling like you had your back this whole time and decide who you want to be.
Step number two. Make a plan stick to the plan even when you don’t feel like it. Remember, if you fail to plan you are planning to fail.
And then step number three is don’t beat yourself up. If you do fail, no big whoop. Get back on track at your next meal or your next workout. Don’t ever skip two workouts in a row. Don’t ever eat two bad meals in a row. Okay, we’re striving for consistency, not perfection.
And I know you got this. I know you guys have absolutely got this. Love. You all keep on Running Lean and we’ll talk to you soon.
256. Why Runners Need Help Losing Weight
I’ve received a lot of comments on my social media posts over the years basically saying that if you are a runner, you shouldn’t need help losing weight. Comments like, “If you want to lose weight, …
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249. Avoid These Mistakes and Crush Your Next Race
It’s that time of the year when every weekend it seems there are a ton of races going on all over the world. And a lot of runners who’ve worked really hard over the last few months will inevitably …
Continue Reading about 249. Avoid These Mistakes and Crush Your Next Race →
Podcast Transcript
My name is Patrick McGilvray, and I’m an experienced marathoner, ultra runner, sports nutritionist, Master life coach and weight loss coach for runners. I’ve dedicated my life to helping runners just like you, properly fuel your body and your mind so you can get leaner, get stronger, run faster and run longer than you ever thought possible. This is Running Lean.
Hey there, and welcome to episode 249 of Running Lean. My name is Patrick McGilvray, the weight loss coach for runners and today, Avoid These Mistakes and Crush Your Next Race. It’s that time of the year when every weekend it seems there’s a ton of races going on all over the world, and a lot of runners who’ve worked really hard over the last few months will inevitably make mistakes on race day. And making mistakes does not just apply to first time racers. Whether you’re a brand new runner, you’re doing your first 5k or you’re a seasoned athlete and running your 20th marathon, I think you’re gonna get something out of this episode. So today, it’s all about how to avoid these mistakes so you can crush your next race.
But first, if you’re somebody who’s interested in improving your running performance, if you want to run longer distances, if you want to increase your endurance, if you be able want to be able to run ultra marathons or marathons or half marathons, whatever it is that you want to do to improve your endurance as a runner, or if you want to get faster, maybe you want to crush your next race. You want a PR or PB, depending on where you are in the world, then I think you might benefit from having some guidance, some direction, getting some constant feedback, having tons of support accountability, having somebody there that’s motivating you, that’s encouraging you.
This is what it means to have a coach. Listen. You don’t have to figure all this stuff out for yourself. You can have somebody right there that’s helping you every step of the way, that’s guiding you, that’s keeping you on track, that’s holding you accountable, so that you can get your results much faster than trying to do it all on your own. So if you’re interested in learning more about coaching, let’s you and I just sit down and have a conversation. We do this over zoom. We just do a quick call, and we’ll talk about coaching. I can answer all your questions. We’ll see if this is a good fit for you. Just go to my website, runningleancoaching.com, and click on work with me, and I can show you exactly how to run longer, how to run faster, and how to become the most badass version of yourself, yet. Cool.
All right, so today avoiding certain mistakes so you can crush your next race. So the reason I’m talking about this today is because there are a lot of races happening right now. This is the beginning of fall racing season. So that starts in September and goes really through November. So September, October, November, typically the three months in the fall when most races are happening. In fact, we just had the Berlin marathon this past weekend, and man, what a great event. I had several of my clients running that event, several of them had PRs and just had great races, and just felt amazing.
But it got me thinking that there are a lot of people out there that don’t have a coach, or don’t have the guidance, or maybe haven’t done a lot of these kinds of races, and there might be some mistakes that are being made out there that a lot of people just don’t really think about until it’s too late. I was certainly in that camp, and I’ve made my share of mistakes early on in my running career, and after doing a lot, a lot of races, I have pretty much made all the mistakes that you can make, pretty much everything I’m going to talk about, I think I’ve done probably, in other words, I’ve made all these mistakes that I’m going to be talking about today, so I can speak from experience, but the reason I’m talking about this is so you don’t have to, you don’t have to make these same mistakes. You can plan a little bit better.
But there’s a lot of people and even seasoned runners, even runners who have done tons of races, run many, many, many, five Ks, half marathons, 10 Ks, marathons, whatever, that still make these kinds of mistakes. And, you know, when we do a little bit of digging after a race, maybe I’m working with somebody, we say, okay, well, let’s talk about what you did. Oh, you know. And then they say something, and I go, well, you know, you talked about maybe not doing that. And, oh yeah, you know, I kind of forgot. So it’s just one of those things where the stuff I’m going to talk about today applies to everybody, whether you’re brand new to running and you’re going to be doing your first race, which is so exciting, it’s so fun.
And listen, I love this aspect of running where we can train for an event that has to happen on a certain day at a certain time, like you have to be ready, and you have to show up, you have to put in the effort, and then you have to show up and actually do the thing. I love that because it’s a way of like, motivating you to get out there and do the work and do the training, because you have a hard date that you got to show up and actually do the work, and then the race itself is a chance for you to prove to yourself what you’re capable of.
So I think races are so much fun, and when you do accomplish your goal in a race, that feels amazing. It’s like all this hard work paid off, and you have shown yourself that you’re capable of doing something you didn’t think you could do before you ran this race. So these races are a chance for you to really prove something to yourself, not to anybody else, but to yourself, and to say to yourself, like, look what I am capable of. So I love racing. If you’re not somebody that’s into racing, I would say, get out there and try. It doesn’t mean you have to run super fast, but it is a chance for you to prove to yourself what you could do. So it is a chance for you to get out there and get a little bit uncomfortable for the length of time it takes to run the race. That might be 30 minutes. It may be three or four hours, or maybe six hours, I don’t know, but whatever it is, get out there and prove to yourself that you can do something hard.
Okay, so there are a lot of mistakes that people make, and even seasoned runners. And the first thing I’m going to talk about here, now listen, some of these things you’ve probably heard before, and you’re like, oh, yeah, and I know all that, but are you doing it all? Like, just be honest with yourself, if you’re a seasoned runner and you’ve been running a million marathons or whatever, I’m going to tell you some things, and you’re going to probably go like, oh, I know that already, but think about the last few races you did. Did you remember these things? Did you actually do these things?
Okay, the first one is this, trying something new on race day. This is a mistake that everybody makes at some point, the rule is nothing new on race day. This is one of the biggest mistakes every runner makes when they get out there and they do their first race or their 10th race, or whatever. Oh, you know what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna buy these new shoes that I just got at the expo the day before the race, and I think I’ll wear them tomorrow for my marathon. Mmm bad idea. Or I think I’m gonna try this new Mexican place the night before my race. You know, nope. Don’t do that. No new food, no new gear, no new pacing strategy. No new pre race meal, no no, nothing new on race day, no new flavor of gel or whatever you’re doing. You want to just be wearing the same clothes you’ve been wearing for your training. You want to be eating the same food. You want to be fueling the same way, and you want to be wearing the same shoes and socks, and you know, using all the gear and everything that you’ve done in training, you want to do on your race.
One of my biggest mistakes ever was during my first marathon. So I was training for my first marathon, doing it all on my own. I wasn’t running with anybody else. I wasn’t in a running group or anything like that. I had a couple of friends who were runners, and I talked to them a little bit about, okay, what should I do for this race? And they gave me some pointers and stuff, but really, not too much. Really stuck with me, but I was reading a book at the time, I think it was Ultra Marathon Man by Dean Carnass.
And in this book, he’s talking about how he was on some long run and he stopped and had some chocolate covered espresso beans, and how it was amazing because it gave him this boost of energy like he’d never felt before. He just felt amazing after eating these chocolate covered espresso beans, because it’s like caffeine and sugar and it’s chocolate and it’s delicious, and it’s exactly what he needed to keep going. And I thought, oh, that’s a good idea. I know I have a marathon coming up in a few days here. I think I’m gonna go and get myself a bunch of chocolate covered espresso beans, and I’ll just eat those, you know, towards the end of my marathon, this should be fine, right?
All right, so I got all these chocolate covered espresso beans, stuck them in a little baggy, put them in my shorts. Well, ran, I don’t know, whatever, 16-18, miles. I was probably around mile 20 or something like that, and I pulled these things out of my shorts, and first of all, think about what happens to chocolate when it’s been in your warm shorts for like, three hours? Well, everything had kind of melted together, and it just became this big glob of stuff. And I was like, well, it’s okay. It’s not going to deter me.
So I just kind of reached in there and grabbed a handful of this chocolate coffee bean glop, you know, and started munching on it. And I was like, Oh, this tastes great. You know, this is going to be awesome. Well, the thing I didn’t realize is that espresso beans are, they’re just coffee beans, so they’re like, super crunchy. And as you start eating these things, there becomes 1000s of tiny, little, very sharp shards of coffee bean that get lodged in every place in your mouth and your throat. And I started choking and coughing, and I couldn’t stop coughing. I had to stop and go to the side. I thought I was going to puke. It was horrible. Did they work? No, I don’t think so, because I felt terrible. I thought I was going to die, and I’m sitting there choking on these chocolate covered espresso beans.
So I learned something that day though, I was like, do not do anything new on race day, like I tried something brand I’ve never tried these things before. I’d never eaten these things before. Had no idea they were gonna have that effect, and it was horrible. So that’s an example of what not to do. So that’s one of the biggest rules of any kind of race, that you’re gonna do nothing new on race day.
The second mistake I want to talk about here is not preparing for the race. And what I mean by that is a lot of people, they train, and they do all the training runs, and they put in the mileage, they put in the time, and they’re preparing to run a certain distance or a certain time, but they’re not preparing for the race itself. So you’re training, yes, but are you race ready when you show up at the start line? Have you done what I call dress rehearsals for your race? In other words, you should be practicing everything before the race day, your fueling strategy, you should be practicing your food strategy that happens like the day before you were on a race the morning of you know, bathroom habits like all this stuff has to be done ahead of time, and you got to practice it wearing the same clothes.
You know, nothing new on race day, but you also have to train for running a race. Races are different than just a training run. What are you going to be carrying with you during that race, during that event, carry that with you in training runs. So the last like third of your training cycle typically should be your long run should be devoted to dress rehearsals for your event.
You should be doing a lot of running that’s very similar to your event, yes, but also you should be preparing for that race, even so much as to prepare, like your pacing strategy and to practice your pacing strategy, practice fueling, practice hydration, practice electrolytes, practice if you’re going to take walk breaks, practice that whatever it is you got to train for your race. You want to be race ready when you show up at the start line. And so many runners, they just have no clue what’s going to happen during that race, because they’ve just been training. They’ve just been running, you know, at whatever pace, and then they think something magical is going to happen on race day. No, you got to plan for that. You got to prepare for it. So prepare to race. Prepare for the event that you’re going to be running.
Okay, another big mistake that a lot of people make is not giving yourself enough time in the morning of a big event, showing up late. This is really, really stressful. So a lot of people will wait till the last minute, and then they arrive late. They can’t find a place to park. There’s so many people. The crowds are so big that it takes them forever to get from wherever they parked, super far away, probably to the actual event. When you get into some of these big marathons or half marathons, even some 5 and 10k’s can be so crowded that just getting through like the corrals, to try to find your corral can be very time consuming.
So it can take a long time, and it’s very, stressful. And that much stress right before you’re about to run your race for the season, this can really lead to poor performance. Keep in mind that when you get down there, there’s, like, always, super long lines at all the portalets. My, uh, suggestion is always to TCB at home, if you can take care of business at home, do that, because if you need to, if you wait until you get down to you know, you’re at this big event and you’re going to try to use a bathroom down there. It, it can be problematic, right? It can be a very long wait for for bathrooms and things like that. So do not show up late. Give yourself tons of time, way more time than you think.
Make sure you’ve mapped out parking situation. If you’re meeting people, you’ve mapped out where you’re going to be meeting people. Everybody is on the same page with all this stuff. If you can carpool with some people, do that, like there’s so much stress that can be avoided, especially early in the morning on a race day, if it’s a big race, it can be really, really stressful. So make sure you do not show up late. Be early. Be early.
Okay. The next thing I want to talk about is not sticking to your race strategy. So let’s say you did have a plan. You have been practicing a racing plan, but on race day, you get sort of caught up in the excitement, and you’re like, feeling a little spicy here first thing in the morning, and you end up going out a little fast, and you’re like, that’s fine. I’m good. I feel great. Well, you’re supposed to feel great at the beginning of a big event, because you’ve done the work, you’ve peaked at the right time, you’ve tapered. But when you get to that event and you go out too fast, you’re going to crash and burn early. So this is going to be a big problem. So you want to avoid that.
The other thing is just going out way too slow, like, oh, I just, I’m really worried about having enough energy for the ender to finish this thing, so I’m just going to be really, really conservative. No, have a strategy ahead of time for your pacing. Practice that strategy and then just execute it on race day. Do not deviate from the plan, like you’ve practiced this that has worked for you, and if you haven’t practiced it, then that’s tough, like you’re just gonna have to do your best. But the point is, like practice a race strategy, a pacing strategy, ahead of time, and then make sure that you execute that exactly on race day, because you know it’s going to work for you.
It may feel weird to go a little bit slower at the beginning because you’re feeling so good, or maybe feel weird to run a little bit faster at the beginning because you’re thinking, oh, I don’t know if I can keep this up, but just know that whatever you’ve decided you’re going to do ahead of time and whatever you’ve been practicing, that’s what you want to stick to. Okay?
And that leads me to my next thing, which is not sticking to your fueling strategy. And this is a big one. A lot of people, they just, they practice fueling like during training runs and then during a race. And I hear this all the time. They say, oh, I just forgot. I forgot to fuel. I forgot to do it again. This is part of your race strategy. Make sure you don’t deviate from your rehearsed, well rehearsed and practice race strategy on race day. Don’t do that. They wonder why they can’t finish strong. Well, they forgot to fuel three times during their event. You know now, if you’re a fat adapted runner, and you are, you know, you’ve gotten very efficient at burning body fat for fuel. You’re not going to need a ton of fuel, and you could probably do pretty well with a pretty bare minimum amount of fuel.
But still, you have practiced a racing strategy. You’ve practiced a fueling strategy. Stick with it during your race, practice it and then execute during your race, over fueling like, so doing too much like, if you’re too worried about, oh, you know, I better do extra this might be a problem. You know, some people get disaster pants when they do too much fuel, especially if you’re doing like, the really sugary goos and stuff like that. And under fueling might lead to early bonking like you might just crash and burn too early, so practice your fueling strategy and then do that on race day. If it works for you, then do that on race day.
The next tip here, and thing to avoid is not dressing appropriately, especially for weather that can be too hot, too cold, could be rainy, could be snowy. Most people, I find dress too warm for races, so they show up wearing jackets and long pants and things like that, because it’s a little cool in the morning, so maybe, let’s say 50 degrees or something in the morning, and they’re running a marathon, and they’re going to be out there for, let’s say, four hours, right? Say the thing starts at 7am so they’re going to be out there until 11. Well, the weather at 11 is going to be much different than the weather at 7am so instead of being 50, it might be 70, and you’re going to warm up out there, even running something like a 5k or a 10k, you know, after the first mile, your body is going to be producing a lot of heat, and you’re going to warm up quite rapidly.
And so most people I find are too hot at the beginning of the race. You should be a little cold at the start of a race, because you will warm up as you go, especially if you live somewhere where you get humidity and a little bit warmer temperatures. Then it can be very problematic, and this will cause you a lot of discomfort, or you’re like, trying to take clothes off, and then what do you do with them? Like, we’ll tie it around your waist. Well, that just makes that part of you warm. You’re trying to carry your shirt with you or whatever. Like, this stuff is just, you know, be prepared for the weather. Be like a weather fiend. Like, pay attention to the weather. Look at the humidity again. You’ve been practicing this stuff in your training, you should have been practicing a dress strategy as well.
So make sure that you are taking into consideration if it’s going to be really cold and you need to wear gloves or something like that, can you take them off and stash them in your shorts or something as you’re running? If you do warm up, maybe you use arm warmers instead of a jacket, and that’s something you can just strip off and, you know, stuff in your shirt, or something like that. Again, this is one of those things that you got to practice, but pay attention to the weather and know ahead of time what you’re getting yourself into here.
I’ve done a lot of races where I usually am pretty cold at the start. I might wear an old sweatshirt or a big plastic bag, like a trash bag, to stay warm at the start of the race, and as soon as the race starts, I strip that stuff off. And I’m a little bit cold at the beginning, but then I warm up. And I’ve had some races where, you know, towards the end of the race, I remember running the Indianapolis marathon, which is in November, and the finish line is downtown Indianapolis, and you’re running west for quite some time, and the wind was in our face, and we were having an ice storm, and I was miserable. Now I had dressed for the temperatures. Didn’t know we’re going to be getting this ice storm. It was a little bit colder than I thought I was going to be. But, you know, I actually think I had a PR that day. I think that may have been my marathon PR. So even on a day where the weather is pretty awful. You know, you got to just plan on doing the best that you can for what is happening.
Sometimes you just can’t do anything about it. You know, we’ve had a few Flying Pigs here in Cincinnati, where the rain was horrific and, you know, wading through ankle deep water and stuff like that, just craziness like you can’t plan for some of that stuff. I get it, but do your best. Pay attention to the weather. If anything, dress a little cooler, because you will warm up, all right.
The next kind of mistake to avoid here would be relying on your watch too much. So understand something, that GPSs are great. The watches that we have are awesome. They are pretty accurate, but I will tell you, I have never run a race where my GPS matched the course distance Exactly. And I hear people complain about this all the time. Oh, the course was short, or the course was long, you know, my watch said it was 26.8 miles, you know, and listen, when they plan a race course like this, and this course is certified, especially if it’s a Boston qualifier course. These routes are certified. So they go around with a wheel and they measure that course exactly. Your watch is not correct. I’m just going to tell you right now the course is correct, 99.9999% of the time the course is going to be correct. GPS is inaccurate, especially when you’re in an urban downtown area, the signal bounces off of buildings and it will look like you covered more ground.
Sometimes, if you don’t run the tangents during a marathon, which is the shortest distance you that can add up that extra little bit of running that you’re doing around corners and things like that, can all add up over time and make it look like it’s a little bit longer, or that GPS is just off a little bit. You know, it’s not perfect. It’s not perfect, and sometimes the signal is interrupted because of different factors. I don’t know whether, I don’t know all the details about that, but just understand that GPS is not going to be perfect. So when you are looking at your watch and it’s telling you you’re at five miles, but you haven’t even seen the five mile marker yet. Go by what the course is showing you. Okay, go by what the course is showing you.
A better plan, especially for a marathon, is to wear a paste band. A paste band is simply a piece of paper that you cover with plastic. So I usually just use a bunch of tape and wrap it around my wrist, and it gives me the time I’m supposed to be at each mile marker. So if my goal is to run a nine minute pace for 26.2 miles, then at mile one I should be, my watch should say nine minutes. At mile two, my watch should say 18 minutes and so on. And so I can look at my pace band and say, Oh, I’m at mile 16. I should be at this time. And does that time match the, you know, the time, does the time match the where I’m supposed to be? Does it match where I actually am on the course, yes or no.
So instead of trying to rely on your GPS, on your watch, I just switch my watch to just show me the time only when I’m running a race like that, because I’m not going to, I’m not going to rely on my GPS to be accurate, because it is not accurate. So get a pace band. And you can, actually a lot of times, you can get these at the expo the day before a race. They will have them that you can just grab, and they’re pre made for different times, and you can just grab one of those, or you can print your own. You can go on the internet and just look up, print a paste band for a marathon, and they’ll, there’ll be places where you can do that, but I’ve had really good luck with this, especially if you’re trying to, like, let’s say you’re trying to break four hours in a marathon, and you’re, you’re, you know, you’re going to be really close. Like, your pace is, like, you know, 3 hours and 57 minutes. Well, guess what? Like, you don’t want to rely on your GPS for that, because if it’s off, you could miss your PR, so instead, go by the time only and pay attention to those mile markers and just make sure that your time is matching those mile markers. Okay?
Okay, the next mistake a lot of people make is really just having a negative mindset, and this might be one of the most important ones here, if not the most important one. So people get really down on themselves when things don’t go as planned. Well, guess what? Things are never going to go as planned. You’re going to work all year, or whatever. You plan for this race. You have a race strategy, you’ve got this fueling strategy, you’ve been practicing your pacing, and then something happens, like, it’s too hot or it’s too cold, or it’s too rainy, or you you know you’re running late, so you couldn’t TCB ahead of time, and that messed you up, like whatever.
You cannot let these things get to you. One thing you can definitely plan on, though, is that nothing will ever go as planned on race day. It never goes as planned. So we’re gonna plan as much as we can, and then you gotta go with the flow. Yes, things are gonna get hard. It’s a marathon or a half marathon, or whatever. Racing is hard. Running is hard. Things are gonna get hard. It’s going to be painful. Running a marathon kind of sucks. They’re supposed to suck. If it was easy, everybody would do it. Less than 1% of the US population has completed a marathon. So if you’re somebody that’s running marathons, you are in an elite group like these things we do, they are tough, but you are tougher.
Think about all the hard things you’ve gotten through in your life so far. You’re just gonna add this one more thing to your list today. So just get it done. Just finish it up. Do the hard work. It’ll be over in a few hours. You know. Just know that you’ve done all the work. Trust your training. You’re way more powerful than you know, and just get the job done. All right. Plan as best you can. Go with the flow. Do not get into this mindset where you’re down on yourself. Oh, you know, if the weather was better, I’d have a much better day. Who cares? Everybody’s dealing with this right now. Do your best. Show up for yourself. Tough it out, see what you’re capable of. Wouldn’t it be much more fun to finish that race and go, You know what? Despite all this stuff, I did pretty good. That’s a much better attitude than Oh, all this stuff happened, and that’s why I totally just quit, you know? Like, no, don’t do that. Okay.
Which leads me to the next mistake a lot of people make, which is not having fun. Races are supposed to be fun. You guys, okay, this is like your victory lap. You’ve done all the hard work. This is the reward for all the hard work that you’ve done. I see too many people, like their heads are down. They’re kind of slunged over as they’re running. They maybe have their headphones in and they’re just checked out.
When I run a race, I smile a lot. I talk to people. I don’t wear headphones. I High Five people all over the place. I try to talk to people. Make new friends. Hey, where are you from? Oh, Bulgaria. Well, that’s crazy. What are you doing here? You know, I get pumped up from listening to the crowd. There’s this energy during a race that you want to be a part of, because it makes running the race so much more fun. So remember, we’re supposed to have fun doing this stuff. Yeah, running is hard, but listen, it’s supposed to be kind of fun, so enjoy it. Don’t be, if you’re just miserable the whole time. Like, how is that for you? Like, do you really want to do that for if you’re running a marathon for like, the next four or five hours? Do you really want to be miserable for five hours? No, enjoy yourself. Have fun, to talk to people, laugh, crack jokes, all that stuff.
And then my last little bonus tip here is going to be, don’t make the mistake of not taking good race photos. Okay, I just thought of this like the last second here. I’m like, oh, I need to add this on here. A lot of people make the mistake of not paying attention to where their photographers are on different races. So a lot of races, they’ll have professional photographers out there taking pictures. Then you can purchase the pictures afterwards.
And if you’re one of these people that wants to do that, like if it’s your first race and you want to purchase the pictures, then here these tips are going to be for you. But for anybody that wants to just take good, good race pictures, or better race pictures, pay attention. Pay attention to where these photographers are on the course. You can only see them. They’ve got giant cameras with these big lenses. It’s pretty easy to spot them a lot of times, they’re sitting in a chair, like in the middle of the road or something, or off to the side, but you know, a lot of times it’s pretty obvious that you can see them ahead of time. So be looking ahead when you see them.
Posture up, no slouching, proud chest, smile. Make sure they can see your bib number clearly on your chest. Move away if there’s people in front of you, make sure there’s a clear line of sight between you and the photographer, and you might feel like crap, but in that 30 seconds, or 20 seconds as you’re passing this photographer, smile, wave, act like you’re having a good time, then you can go back to being miserable afterwards.
But listen, racing is so much fun. I love running races. It’s one of the reasons why I love running so much is because we get to celebrate with these races. You get to go out and run with 1000s of other people, and it just shows you, like, what we are all capable of, these communities coming together. It’s so much fun. So get out there and enjoy it. Don’t make these mistakes.
Hopefully you all will have an awesome racing season this fall and or if you’re listening to this, in the springtime, hopefully you know your spring races will be awesome as well.
All right, that’s all I got for you today. Love you all. Keep on Running Lean and I will talk to you soon.